Travis Walton knows if his team looks past Louisville for even a second, the Spartans won't have to worry about the Final Four. "Every thought, every dream, got to go to beating Louisville, not getting to the Final Four right now," Walton says.

Overview: Michigan State has not played against anyone that uses full-court pressure the way Louisville does. Then, too, Louisville hasn’t run into many teams as physical as Michigan State. Both teams rely on balance and deep rosters. Louisville doesn’t have a pure shooter, but the Cardinals have passed the ball unselfishly and their shot selection has been impressive. They feast on turnovers by their opponents. Michigan State will depend on Big Ten player of the year Kalin Lucas to maneuver through Louisville’s full-court press. He showed his mettle against talented and tough Kansas guard Sherron Collins in Friday’s regional semifinals.

Second-seeded MSU (29-6) must beat top seed Louisville (31-5) Sunday in the Midwest regional final at Lucas Oil Stadium to advance to the Final Four.

Walton declines to say much about the possibility of getting there. He doesn't want to get caught looking ahead.

"If I look ahead, we might get beat by 30," Walton said Saturday. "So you've got to take it one game at a time, focus on Louisville. It's going to be our toughest task of the season. From one second you look past them, that could be a 10-point deficit.

"Every thought, every dream, got to go to beating Louisville, not getting to the Final Four right now."

It's probably not fair to single out Walton. Although the other seniors on the team – Goran Suton, Marquise Gray and Idong Ibok – went to the Final Four in 2005, they sat out that season as redshirt freshmen.

"As seniors, (we) have all kind of said to each other that we were there, but we were on the scout team. We didn't step a foot on the floor," said Suton. "We didn't play a minute in the Final Four. So as much pressure as it is on Travis, there's as much pressure on me, Idong and Marquise to get there because we haven't played in one.

"You know, it would be huge. It would be the best thing that's happened to us."

Reaching the Final Four in Detroit's Ford Field, which is practically in Michigan State's backyard about 90 miles away from East Lansing, would be a virtual homecoming for the Spartans. Nine of them are from Michigan and several were raised in or near Detroit.

No Final Four team has played that close to home since 1994, when Duke played in Charlotte, 120 miles from Durham.

Michigan State is knocking on the Final Four's door, yet it's thousands of miles away because Louisville, with its intense, full-court pressure, is considered the favorite.

"I already know they're going to come out and pressure us, fouling us, slapping us," MSU point guard Kalin Lucas, the leading scorer with a 14.7-point average, said. "We do have some great guards and we are going to handle that pressure well."

Lucas more than held his own Friday in a regional semifinal against Kansas and its gritty point guard, Sherron Collins. Lucas delivered clutch plays and scored 18 points to go with seven assists.

Louisville is expected to pressure Lucas and other MSU guards such as Walton furiously with various defenders. "We haven't played anybody that just presses us the whole way full-court like Louisville is going to do," Lucas said.

But MSU is prepared to make the game a physical grind for Louisville.

For years, the Spartans have drawn strength and stamina from a practice drill called War. It's a five-on-five fight, with no out-of-bounds lines and no fouls called as players hustle and tussle for the ball. There's grabbing, pulling and scratching, Walton said.

"Sometimes people get to bleeding and different things like that," he added. "When they get real tough, we might put football pads on."

He wasn't joking about the football pads. That's the kind of taxing game the Spartans can give Louisville. That could pave their way to the Final Four.

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